Other than all of us running around naked, The Source Family cult on Kauai had nothing in common with Taylor Camp. Our camp or compound was run strictly by the dictates of Jim Baker and the women who he surrounded himself calling them 'his wives'. Where the people at Taylor Camp lived a more carefree and happy coexistence without any one person leading or controlling the group; those of us in The Source Family who ended up living on the land on Kauai had to abide by the rules of conduct imposed by Jim Baker and enforced by 'his women' who called themselves 'the council'. But, The Source Family showed up at the tail end of Taylor Camp and by then the locals had hippie fatigue and had little Aloha for this cult of people who showed up!
I was sent to the compound on Kauai when my son was only a few months old and it was one of the most stressful and harrowing times spent in The Source Family, until the locals basically forced us off the island. Although, after watching the video that I've included in this post it's understandable how the locals on Kauai had had enough of hippies after all of their experiences with the Taylor Camp people.
Although Jim Baker did not allow alcohol or drugs with the exception of a small toke of pot early in the morning during morning meditation. But, not everyone had to participate in the smoking of pot. I never did. I never smoked pot while I was in The Source Family and had no inclination to participate in that little early morning pre-class ritual that Jim Baker had adopted. So, although people were neither drunk or loaded like some people were in Taylor Camp, none of us had the freedom to go to the beach every day or enjoy much of anything on Kauai. Women with infants or small children like myself were sequestered away remaining on the land while the locals became more and more threatening and unwelcoming.
It was no surprise when Jim Baker decided to fly the coop and travel to Nepal under the pretense of looking for 'a new place' for the group to relocate when it was just a way for him to escape the worsening and oppressive conditions on Kauai, and so Jim Baker took a small entourage of his favorite women and only a couple of sons and flew back to the Mainland checking into a beautiful hotel room in San Francisco being waited on hand and foot while he negotiated his next move. Heading to Europe and India first class decked out in the best suits money could buy and the nicest dresses and elaborate hats for the women accompanying him was far from the reality of what the remaining family members of Kauai were dealing with. After ingesting 'magic mushrooms' Baker finally had the realization that he wasn't God and soon wanted to escape the dire conditions on Kauai. So, he just abandoned the remaining family members to deal with the worsening conditions and hostile locals, while expecting the island of Kauai to support the remaining family members because he needed whatever monies were coming in from the sale of The Source Restaurant to fund his European vacation via expensive hotel stays while in San Francisco! Here's the video about Taylor Camp on Kauai that I just ran across which helps give perspective about why the locals were so intolerant of The Source Family by the time we arrived on the island https://youtu.be/XepIDJ0lR8g?si=C6-kIv148xXDzLSw.
I only knew of one guy in The Source Family who had been in Vietnam and his name was Waterfall and he was one of the most knowledgeable and resourceful men within the group. There wasn't anything that Waterfall couldn't take care of or undertake; he was an invaluable member of The Source Family. So, unlike The Taylor Camp which was comprised of several Vietnam Vets; I only knew of one in The Source Family, plus no one owned a surfboard or ever went surfing like at Taylor Camp. I never went to the beach once while being stuck on Kauai. My one and only outing was when I was forced to be part of the contingent of women with babies and small children who were made to go to the local welfare office to apply for birth certificates and welfare assistance.
The Source Family had become a cult of followers around Jim Baker who had convinced us that we were all the leaders and forerunners of the Aquarian Age where many actually believed they were more highly evolved spiritually than the people who populated places like Taylor Camp. So, huge spiritual egos were prevalent within The Source Family. I think that Jim Baker even offered to 'rid the island of hippies' at one point! We had to strictly obey and abide by whatever rules and directives Jim Baker and 'his wives' devised as opposed to the open and carefree (more unstructured) communal living found at Taylor Camp. Where the Taylor Camp was a true communal situation; the opposite was true of The Source Family. We had become a cult of devoted followers of one man. It became a very oppressive situation on Kauai. Watching the video about Taylor Camp reminded me of the happy, carefree hippie lifestyle that I'd been leading, until I decided to join The Brotherhood of The Source in 1970 thinking and believing at the time that I had found an enlightened, New Age group. I believe in terms of communal living back in the 1970's that Taylor Camp was much more successful as opposed to the cult lifestyle of The Source Family where everything revolved around Jim Baker, and where life became restrictive and stressful for the majority of us especially the women with babies and small children and where Jim Baker's so-called 'teachings' had disastrous results ending with his needless death.
